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I
heard voices. Not human voices. I just heard something. It sounded like scraping. What is happening? Where am I? And most importantly, why can't I open my eyes? Before I could make sense of anything, I felt my hair being pulled with such a force as to rip it from its scalp.
My eyes popped open, and I screamed. “You really thought you could run? You thought I was foolish enough to meet you outside without any precautions?” She pulled my hair more and more as she spoke. All I could hear was my own scream. Pain. So much pain. My knife was gone too. She stopped pulling when my hair was on the verge of being ripped off.
I breathed heavily, trying to lessen the pain and make sense of everything. I caught a glimpse of a hunched-over figure beside me. I blew hair away from my face and craned my neck to look. Even such a small movement made me scream. Anthony was sitting tied in a chair beside me, unconscious. I began to move around in my chair and struggle so I could reach him. I heard her laughing. This was the first time I had felt true fear during the entire night. I knew what she was capable of.
I knew she was going to kill him right in front of my eyes. “Annette, please, I am begging you, let him go. He did not do anything wrong. I am the one you want. Even if unintentionally, I am the one who ruined your life. Please, let him go.” For a minute, I saw the old Annette in her eyes. The Annette who was my friend, the Annette who I loved. But then, that person vanished into thin air, and the venom was back. “No. He dies, and so do you.” I think she herself got scared of the way I had an effect on her.
She immediately pulled out a knife and moved toward Anthony. I could feel my heart dying in its own cage. Click, click, click. No. She is moving toward him. I had forgotten my own pain at this point. She will kill him. Click, click, click. God, please, please do not let him die. Mrs. Waltham’s eyes kept running in front of my eyes. No.
She cannot lose him. I was struggling frantically as tears streamed down my face. Click, click, click. She was so close. The tip of the knife was almost touching his chest. Click, click, BANG! A loud noise rattled the entire building.
The knife fell from Anette’s hands as officers stormed the building with guns in their hands. “Ms. Annette Frietz, drop your weapon and surrender peacefully. We have the building surrounded. You have the right to remain silent and the right to a lawyer. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Annette looked stunned and simply stood there as Detective Ocon handcuffed her hands behind her back.
This was the first time I observed our surroundings. We were in some kind of basement. With nothing but empty space enclosed by cement walls, it added to my fear. I was too stunned to speak or even move my head.
What just happened? Is he safe? Am I safe? Did we all survive? Just as Detective Ocon was handcuffing her second hand behind her back, she snatched it and put something in her mouth, and swallowed it.
Detective Ocon began to scream and ask the other officers for help to get it out of her system. I felt someone untying the ropes around my arms. I was losing consciousness again. My head was throbbing, and my vision was blurred. The last thing I heard was someone calling my name. Then, everything went blank.
